Epiduo : Forte Gel

I started on this mid-August of 2017, and now it's nearly been a year since I've been on it. When starting, I was definitely skeptical, based on the fact that no other acne treatments had been able to clear my stubborn, severely inflamed acne. I'm 14 now, I've had acne since I was about 9. Most people say that they go through a purge period while using this, typically at the beginning of use, but I was pretty lucky. I didn't get too many more pimples than I was getting on a weekly basis (about 4-7 new pimples a week :| ). I don't remember much from the beginning months. I had the same amount some weeks, I'd get new breakouts (not so many though) and the number of large, painful blind pimples and cysts I was getting has monumentally decreased since usage. Right now, my skin is 95% clear of acne, my main concern is hyperpigmentation, which is relieving to be concerned only about that. I can't recall the last time I had a cyst, which feels great! The only pimples I get now are super teeny and usually go away within 2-3 days. My best advice if you're trying this out would be to stick it out! Don't despair if you feel like you're getting worse, because it will definitely get better! Best of luck!

I was put on this after regular Epiduo did nothing for me. This was the same thing all over again. Works somewhat well the first week or so then does nothing. Applying a little amount - a large amount made no difference. I found it did nothing except occasionally dry out my face.

I'm 16 years old, and I've struggled with moderate acne since I was around 12 years old. I tried to put off seeing a dermatologist because I thought it would be embarrassing, so instead, I tried basically every over the counter topical medication I could find; AcneClear, Proactiv, Cetaphil, Biore, and probably at least twenty more brands. I finally worked up the courage to go see a dermatologist, and he prescribed me Epiduo Forte and some doxycycline pills. I wash my face with Cetaphil then apply the epiduo once every night before I go to sleep. I never got any of the burning sensation, to me it felt cool for the first few days, and now it doesn't give any sensation at all. I was SO excited to start using this because most of the reviews were positive and acted like it was a miracle worker. I've been using this for over a month, and I'm disappointed to say, I'm NOT HAPPY. My skin is the worst it's ever been, and I haven't seen any improvement at all. Before starting this, my skin was bad, but it was mostly centered on my cheeks. My chin and forehead were completely clear. After using epiduo, my acne has gone to moderate to severe, and there is no longer any clear area of my skin. At first I thought it must be a "purge phase" but this has been going on for about 6 weeks, so I'm losing hope. I really don't know what else to try.

Ive been on epiduo for about a month and a half. the purge phase for me lasted a good 4 weeks: i broke out in places ive never broken out before, had major breakouts on my forehead, and my skin was red and peely. the breakouts were nothing big, but a ton of individual small bumps that were miserable. . it wasn't until recently when i started seeing good improvements in my skin. Don;t get me wrong, its nowhere near perfect, but its a lot more manageable. I used to get whiteheads and have to worry about them becoming HUGE (im talking pea-sized) whiteheads that caused major scarring on my face. now, i still get some whiteheads but i can go to sleep having put on epiduo knowing they would be gone the next day. the cycle of my breakouts has become a lot faster and i dont worry about breakouts becoming inflamed. I also think that epiduo has helped somewhat with oil control and my pores are definitely smaller. also, it has overturned new skin cells so my skin looks overall fresher and less textured. I am happy where it is going and hopeful for perfect skin in the future. UPDATE: while epiduo did help the texture of my skin, and it helped breakouts go away faster, they werent stopping. i was on the treatment for maybe three months with no change. I am not on Onexton in the morning and retin A every other night, and i am already hopeful for this. The epiduo fpaved a path for retin A so i am experiencing no dryness so far. I still use epiduo as a spot treatment as it still works great to make pimples go away fast

In the past I've been on clindamycin and epiduo + deoxycyclin. Each was effective for about a year before my skin got bad again. Currently I'm on three different prescriptions, aczone in the morning, epiduo forte at night and erythromycin twice a day. As well as going completely dairy free.I hoped there wouldn't be a "binge" period like there was with my old epiduo but there was. I'm in my third week and I've seen zero improvement. I have cysts all along my hair line, on my chin, and on my forehead. I hope I'll see improvements soon.

epiduo is great for drying active acne, a small amount will do wonders , don't use to much as it can burn your skin. Epiduo keeps your skin and pores clean and dry ,which is a good thing for people with oily skin and a added bonus as you would be applying this with your hands by smooching it on your face with your hands you are sterilizing them as well ,this product works well with a cataphil lotion , but no moisturizer as it would just increase oil production

So a little background on my acne... I have struggled with it since middle school, was prescribed yasmin BC and antibiotics as a teenager which worked wonders and I was finally clear. In my late teens my OBGYN switched my BC because of warnings against yasmin and yaz to a different less risky BC. It was still doing the job of keeping me clear but I would occasionally start to get a cyst near that time of the month. Within the last 9 months (I'm now almost 27) I made the decision to get off of BC because my friend who had been having migraines since starting BC told me that was what had caused them. Now I had been having pretty bad migraines with aura for the past 10 years and just attributed it to genetics since my mom suffers from them as well. Turns out it was the estrogen in the birth control! I have not had one migraine in the past 9 months! FYI if you experience migraines with an aura and take BC with estrogen you are putting yourself at a much higher risk for stroke and blood clots, something I do not want to risk. But unfortunately getting off the birth has wrecked havoc on my skin. I went to a new dermatologist (after having a terrible experience with trying accutane with my old one and ending up with severe anxiety attacks and having my left arm become numb) and I was prescribed epiduo forte. I did not want any sort of antibiotic because of the damage they can do to the good bacteria in your body so I opted for something topical since I have never really been consistent with any topical creams I was prescribed in the past. So I am currently on week 7. Now the first few weeks were absolute HELL with the peeling and itching and burning of my skin. After a few weeks the peeling went away but I'm still struggling with new break outs. In fact its much worse than where I was before starting epiduo Forte. But from what I have read online at least from people reviewing the less strong version (just regular epiduo) they have said to wait a full three months to decide if its working. Honestly this is the hardest thing I have done regarding acne treatment because I have had to stay consistent with it and go through terrible peeling and this so called initial breakout. I do feel that the small skin colored bumps around my jawline have started to disappear and that I have been having less and less cystic bumps popping up as of the past week so I'm hoping I am nearing the end of this "gets worse before it gets better phase". I am however going to stick this out until the full three months is up and then update my review.